Having trouble reading this email?  View it in your browser.
[[link removed]]

[TBR BOOKSTORE PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT]

THE ARTICLE BELOW IS A SAMPLE OF THE BEST OF _THE BARNES REVIEW_
MAGAZINE. PLEASE CONSIDER SUSBSCRIBING TO THE MAGAZINE BY CLICKING
HERE
[[link removed]].

TBR HISTORY ARTICLE - GERMANY & THE GYPSIES: DID THE REICH FEEL IT HAD
A ‘GYPSY PROBLEM’?

 

Nearly every country in europe has at one time or another over the
centuries promulgated laws restricting or expelling Gypsy populations.
In 1528, Martin Luther referred to Gypsies as “fake friars,
wandering Jews and rogues” in his _Book of Vagabonds_.
In Rumania, Gypsies were enslaved. In 1471, Lucerne was the first
locality to craft anti-Gypsy laws. Lucerne was followed by
Brandenburg, Spain, Germany, Holland, Portugal, England, Denmark,
France, Flanders, Scotland, Bohemia, Poland/Lithuania and Sweden.
Possibly the first concentration camps for Gypsies were created in the
late 19th century in England in the New Forest region. Thus the legal
concern for the presence of Gypsy populations in Europe was well
developed long before the Nazi Party came into power in Germany in the
1930s. But why were German leaders of Hitler’s era, in particular,
so interested in monitoring their Gypsy population?

BY JOHN TIFFANY

Arguments among scholars about the “uniqueness” of the alleged
World War II “holocaust” are widespread, ranging from those who
feel the holocaust was specifically Jewish, to those who feel that all
victims equally played a part. Among these alleged victims were the
Gypsies. Wandering the country in their caravans, making their living
as musicians, pedlars, thieves, swindlers, pickpockets, rapists and
fortune-tellers, the Rromas and Sintis (together known as Gypsies) and
their criminal, parasitic, drifting way of life constituted an affront
to German National Socialist ideals of social order and hard work.

Many believed the Gypsies were dirty, some were criminals, and they
were not to be associated with in any way, shape or form. In short,
they were bad from birth. Stories were told of young Gypsies who would
corner you in broad daylight to steal your money and your coat. Laws
against the Rroma were passed almost from the day they arrived in
Europe. In the very beginning, rumors spread that they were a band of
Christian Egyptians fleeing persecution, thus coining the term
“Gypsies” from the word “Egyptians.” However, as a darker
skinned people who did not lead the settled lifestyle of people
already in the area, they were soon suspect. By the 19th century,
scholars in Germany and elsewhere in Europe were writing about
Rromanies and Jews as being inferior beings; Charles Darwin, writing
in 1871, singled out the two populations (Jews and Gypsies) as not
being “culturally advanced” like other “territorially settled”
peoples. Differences in religious and cultural practices led to rumors
of them being magicians or vampires, which led to their ostracization.

Resembling Jews in many ways, but generally below average in IQ,
Gypsies were branded as “antisocial,” harassed and eventually
herded, along with other undesirables, into concentration camps.
Gypsies faced a widespread “Nazi” crackdown.

Gypsies were seen as a threat to German racial purity, though Heinrich
Himmler himself wavered, trying to avoid interning those he considered
“pure Gypsies” descended from Aryan roots in India. A notable
writer on the subject, Guenter Lewy (_The Nazi Persecution of the
Gypsies_, Oxford University Press, USA, 2000), contradicts the
establishment line by showing that, however much the Gypsies were
cracked down upon, there was no general program of extermination as
has been claimed. Lewy’s meticulously researched and methodically
presented study—a work of exemplary scholarship—is based on the
study of primary documents in archives and in various governmental
agencies.

In many ways, early National Socialist policy regarding the Gypsies
constituted a radicalization of existing legislation. During the
Kaiser’s Reich and the Weimar Republic, many German states passed
laws restricting trade and movement for Gypsies. These laws were
enacted partly in response to demands from the local population, who
often viewed the lifestyle and thievery of Gypsies with understandable
aversion.

Anyone who traveled as a Gypsy, or had dark skin resembling a Gypsy,
was considered to have Gypsy blood.

Citing anthropological evidence, Lewy recounts that stealing from
a _Gaje _(non-Gypsy), as long as it was limited to basic necessities
and not motivated by greed, carried little stigma according to many
Gypsy cultures. Lewe uses this and other examples as illustrations of
how cultural and behavioral differences between Gypsies and
non-Gypsies often made congenial relations difficult to maintain, and
how they eventually made Gypsies the victims of various forms of
discriminatory legislation.

Before the war, the decree for “Combating the Gypsy Plague” for
the first time officially labeled Gypsies as racially inferior. This
was issued in December 1938 and called for registration of all
Gypsies.

Robert Ritter and his staff at Germany’s Research Institute for
Racial Hygiene and Population Biology carried out experiments and
measurements on thousands of Gypsies. They reached the conclusion that
the purer the blood of a Gypsy, the less inclined he was to engage in
criminal activity. This conclusion provided National Socialist
officials with a useful explanation to the question of the racial
origin of the Gypsies.

Many National Socialist scientists had long wrestled with the
predicament of how to address the presumed Indian origin of the
Gypsies, which indicated that they were of Aryan descent. By arguing
that the vast majority of contemporary Gypsies (about 90%) were of
mixed ancestry and hence of inferior racial stock, Ritter and his
staff were able to play the race card against the Gypsy minority. The
passing of this decree resulted in a significant reduction of Gypsy
freedom of movement, and many were forced into supervised municipal
camps, where they had little or no opportunity to commit crimes. 

With the outbreak of war, the National Socialists developed a grand
scheme to rid Germany of these unwanted people. This initiative called
for the deportation of all Gypsies to newly acquired territories in
eastern Poland. For a variety of reasons, however (for instance, the
lack of transportation), this venture failed. Only about 2,500 of the
approximately 30,000 Gypsies in Germany were deported during this
campaign.

Some Gypsies were allowed to stay in Germany because they had a
permanent place of residence, kept their homes in an orderly manner
and held regular jobs.

Searching for a new solution to the Gypsy problem, Himmler announced a
new and more coherent policy in December 1942. Himmler supported
Ritter’s ideas concerning the racial differences between pure
Gypsies and mixed bloods. These ideas clearly served as a basis for
the “Auschwitz Decree,” as it called for the deportation of the
latter to Auschwitz, while the former were to be largely exempted. The
decree provided specific guidelines for groups that were to be
exempted: racially pure Gypsies, mixed bloods who had been adopted by
a racially pure group, Gypsies who were legally married to persons of
German blood, and “socially adjusted” Gypsies. Lewy points to
numerous examples of Gypsies who, by living what the National
Socialists defined as socially well-adjusted lives, were able to avoid
expulsion despite their inferior racial status.

Lowy asserts that no documentation exists that the National Socialists
possessed a blueprint for Gypsy extermination.

One Roman Mirga was one of the earliest Gypsy “holocaust
survivors” who had his story made into a book. This was in 1986,
more than 40 years after being liberated. His story gives us the truth
about what it was like to be a prisoner at Auschwitz. One might say he
was one of the lucky ones, because his father was a musician favored
by the camp authorities. He and his family were at least kept alive.
It is important to note that in many concentration camps Rroma
families were kept together.

The bottom line is that there is no evidence that a single Gypsy was
gassed by National Socialist Germany—much less was there any policy
of genociding the Gypsies.

[link removed]

-------------------------

_Remember_: 10% off retail price for TBR subscribers. Use coupon code
TBRSub10 if you are an active subscriber to claim your discount on
books and other great products, excluding subscriptions. 

Order online from the TBR Store using the links above or call
202-547-5586 or toll free 877-773-9077 Mon.-Thu. 9-5 ET with questions
or to order by phone.
 

-------------------------

Know someone who might be interested in our books?
Forward this email to your friend by clicking here
[[link removed]].

TBR ONLINE STORE  •  202-547-5586 / 877-773-9077
shop @ barnesreview.org
  

SUBSCRIBE TO_ THE BARNES REVIEW_

[TBR Subscribe]
[[link removed]]

SUBSCRIBE TODAY
[[link removed]],
AND DON'T MISS ANOTHER ISSUE OF
_THE BARNES REVIEW, _DEDICATED TO BRINGING HISTORY
INTO ACCORD WITH THE FACTS!

The Barnes Review  •  PO Box 550, White Plains, MD 20695
202-547-5586 or 877-773-9077  •  s
[/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection]shop @ barnesreview.org

Copyright © 2023 The Barnes Review. All rights reserved.

CLICK HERE
[[link removed]]
to unsubscribe from ALL Barnes Review emails.
 

The Barnes Review Magazine
P.O. Box 550
White Plains Maryland 20695
United States
[link removed],
[link removed]